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Polanski’s Next Movie Is of a Man Persecuted, a k a the Dreyfus Affair

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Polanski’s Next Movie Is of a Man Persecuted, a k a the Dreyfus Affair

By Michael Cieply May 9, 2012 3:37 pmMay 9, 2012 3:37 pm

LOS ANGELES — In France, the pursuit of Roman Polanski by American authorities who remain intent on bringing him to trial for a decades-old sex offense has raised comparisons to the Dreyfus Affair. And those comparisons will surely be revived by Mr. Polanski’s next film project: A political thriller to be called “D,” based on the story of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus.

Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French Army, was tried for treason in 1894 for supposedly passing secrets to the Germans. He was convicted, sentenced to life in prison, and sent to Devil’s Island, off South America. But an impassioned public defense by Émile Zola, and years of advocacy by others, ultimately led to his exoneration.

On Wednesday, Mr. Polanski said in a statement that he was undertaking the Dreyfus film as a way to teach a contemporary lesson about “the age-old spectacle of the witch hunt of a minority group, security paranoia, secret military tribunals, out-of-control intelligence agencies, governmental cover-ups and a rabid press.”

The film will begin shooting in Paris later this year, the statement said, as an independently financed production. Mr. Polanski’s agency, International Creative Management, is expected to sell North American rights, while Lionsgate/Summit International will handle sales in the rest of the world.